Kent Bush: Chilean mine collapse puts life in perspective

Kent Bush

Friday

Aug 27, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2010 at 12:40 PM

I don't know if anyone has it worse than the 33 Chilean men who are trapped underground and aren't sure exactly when they will see daylight again. That's why I was so impressed at their reaction when the drill bit reached them. They were loudly singing the Chilean national anthem and thanking rescuers for not giving up on them.

The news is a funny business.

The more horrible a story is, the more people want to read about it. Sometimes it has to do with prurient interests. Sometimes it helps our psyche to see the rays of hope in the darkest of times.

I can't think of a more terrifying story than that of the mine collapse in Chile. After a disastrous failure in the mine on Aug. 5, the fate of 33 men on the wrong side of the landslide was unknown. When two weeks passed, the assumption that the men were no longer alive would have been very reasonable.

But on Aug. 19, a bore hole reached the safe room almost a half of a mile below the surface.

Shockingly, all of the men were still alive. They were all doing pretty well considering there was limited fresh air, about two days worth of food, no light other than what was available on a few helmets and the temperatures hover around 90 degrees constantly.

They lived on two spoonfuls of tuna, a small glass of milk and a biscuit every other day.

I can't imagine the joy and relief the miners felt when that first drill bit made its way into the safety chamber - a room the size of a small, one-bedroom apartment.

Thankfully, the men have access to a few tunnels that lead away from the room, so they aren't living in a huge port-o-potty with 32 other men.

They were so emaciated and dehydrated that rescuers can't even send them food yet. They get rehydration pills and glucose gel to help their bodies begin to process nutrients on a regular schedule again.

Unfortunately, it will be 30 to 90 more days before they miners are brought back to the surface. The physical and mental effects will be numerous.

That's why I don't understand one of the first pieces of advice given to the miners: Don't get too fat down there.

Of all of the concerns I would have, that one might not be very high on the list. Even if there were some highly hefty hombres down there when the mine shaft gave way, eating seven biscuits and a can of tuna in two weeks probably fixed that problem.

The hole that will soon save the men will be the size of a bicycle tire. A basket will fit inside the hole, and you better fit in the basket or you'll have to dig your own hole to get out.

Once you get in the basket, the ride to the surface will take more than an hour. That means - with no problems - it will take at least a day and a half to free the men from what has to feel like a tomb.

I don't know about you, but if that were me and my co-workers trapped in that mountain, there would be more than a few tense moments between now and the hour when the last person rides up the extemporized elevator.

I know some of them get a little grumpy by 5 o'clock every day even after having a few breaks from each other and all the snacks and sodas they care to consume.

Four months in a hole together would probably result in more than a few letters of resignation when we got back to the surface.

Honestly, if I was trapped in a hole for four months, I don't know if I would even want to come back up. Do you realize how many e-mails I would have to go through by then? Talk about a mountain.

I know these men work every day in a mine. They know how long it might take to save them. They're used to the conditions and they always knew this was possible.

But being down there for a shift and knowing you could get trapped and actually being trapped are very different scenarios.

I feel bad for hurricane and tornado victims and people who endure accidents and house fires. I empathize with people from New Orleans who lost everything to Katrina and the poor people of Pakistan who have huge land masses covered with flood water even now.

But I don't know that any of them have it any worse than these 33 men who are trapped underground and aren't sure exactly when they will see daylight again.

That's why I was so impressed at their reaction when the drill bit reached them.

They were loudly singing the Chilean national anthem and thanking rescuers for not giving up on them.

When asked what they needed, the shift leader told officials, "That you rescue us as quickly as possible, and that you don't abandon us. Don't leave us alone. We hope that all of Chile shows its strength to help us get out of this hell."

That's pretty heroic talk for a man who spent two weeks in a hot, dark hole unsure of whether he would ever be saved.

That kind of spirit is instructional.

It should lift our moods when we struggle with minor problems. It should show us that we don't have it so bad.

Those topside need to start planning now. There better be one big party for these guys when they finally make it out.

Kent Bush is publisher of the Augusta (Kan.) Gazette.

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